


FOXES.exe

by BitchingInternationalAssassin01



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Artificial Intelligence, Autor sucks at responding to comments, Computer Programming, Graffiti, Hacking, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plot, Rating May Change, Ravens as the big bad guys, Rebels, Robots, Second Chances, Slow Burn, Technology, and tagging, street art
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2020-07-24 01:56:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20018347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BitchingInternationalAssassin01/pseuds/BitchingInternationalAssassin01
Summary: A few years ago, new device was introduced . Its primary purpose was to help humankind access every available information there was, just by thinking about it. The device was a small chip , placed on your temple, and it would connect to your brain waves and provide you access to “ the nest”- new, improved version of the internet.Its effect was that people started relying on this device too much; they were slowly losing their ability to think for themselves.The student that created the company called Ravens, was from a powerful mafia family. They plan to use this device to slowly take control over humanity. Neil is Butcher's son, and he and his mother were on the run. With his mother's death, Neil is now alone.





	1. Its cold outside

**Author's Note:**

> Neil uses his secret talent to get himself from one mess into another

It was cold outside. One of the coldest nights this city had encountered in the past two months Neil had spent here. The streets were now covered in ice, making it difficult to walk and impossible to run. And Neil missed running. His muscles itched for the thrill of movement they were so desperately lacking. But he couldn’t risk it. A thick layer of ice covered everything. Routs, sidewalks, streets, even the roofs. Ice everywhere but no sign of snow. Rumour had it that Ravens were what stopped the snow from falling over cities, preventing even bigger traffic collapses than those that were already taking place on a daily bases.

But Neil doubted it. He didn’t think that Ravens had such power. At least he hoped they didn’t.

He looked up from his knees, glancing over the city, shining in thousands of different lights, each representing one warm room. He swallowed, pushing away the jealousy that was starting to rise in his chest. He truly had a beautiful view from the roof he was squatting at. But even a view like that won’t make out for the lack of coverage from the freezing cold. But it was the only place where he felt safely hidden from the ever-watching invisible eye of the city’s “security” cameras.

He shivered from the cold, fingers itching for a cigarette. He ran out of them yesterday morning, together with the last bottle of water and pack of crackers. Neil bit his lip, thinking what his mother would have said if she’d been here with him. She would probably start with beating him for not getting more supplies before finishing the last of them. But in his defence, he did his best. He mapped every store in the radius of two miles and learned their closing hours in hope to find one of them either throw away some leftovers. Or to at least forget locking the door, so Neil could sneak in the shop and get his supplies. But no such luck.

Neil was starting to think he was cursed but then he read the news in the paper. Ravens just introduced their newest update. Reminder they called it. Only by thinking once about something important, you don’t want to forget; your Cube will remember it for you and remind you at the appropriate time. That meant more comfort for the Raves users and the end of Neil’s style of surviving.

In this environment, it was merely impossible to simply go and start taking stuff when the store is opened and then try to run for it.

Neil had to turn to his last resort.

When his mother was still alive, she never allowed him to use hacking to help them with anything. Not even during the most escalated situations. She didn’t believe he wouldn’t make a mistake, putting them into even bigger danger.

That was also her only rule Neil had ever broken. Going behind his mothers back, Neil would visit dumps with old electrical equipment’s, and practised hacking into some of the working computers. Eventually, he learned how to create a provisional tablet he used as an external device to get into some of the more complicated systems.

He knew if his mother ever found out about it, she would first break Neil and then the device. But since he was out of options, he briefed himself into using his forbidden talent for breaking into the shop.

Neil watched as the hands on the clocktower in front of him finally moved together to show midnight and got up. The owner of the small shop Neil was heading to closed at ten, but it would take the guy until eleven to leave the building. Neil didn’t want to risk anything and decided to wait another extra hour just to be sure.

He took another breath, ignoring the pain of cold air running through his nostrils, threw the tablet into his backpack and got up. With cautious steps, Neil climbed down the emergency ladder, making sure he wasn’t touching the frozen metal longer than necessary.

The streets were already quiet. Neil walked slowly, trying to stay as close to the grey walls as possible, without brushing over them and making unwanted sound. Even with no one in sight, he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him. He signed it off to his paranoia kicking in but didn’t put his guard down.

The shop he chose was a small building, covered in old graffiti from people who thought it was cool to leave their nickname on a wall with one lazy line. There was no real thought put into it, just one quick move with hand, rewarded with a short rush of adrenalin from breaking the law.

The reason why Neil went to this particular shop was the security lock. It was an old model, with only one inside circuit. Neil saw plenty of those in the dump he used to visit and was more than surprised that someone would still use them. He watched the building for couple minutes from behind a corner, making sure no one was coming in or out before approaching.

He reached for his screwdriver and with one quick move, he unlocked the lid on the primary source. He reached for his tablet and connected it to the lock with a one-purpose chip, gaining himself access to the internal system, wirelessly sharing the system information with his tablet.

To unlock the door, he needed a four-digit code. His goal was to run every combination possible in a separated environment he created in his tablet. That would allow him as many attempts as he needed without setting the alarm off.

Neil blinked, shocked when the lock’s firewall showed up. There was a surprisingly advanced level of antivirus installed into the device, which was about the last thing Neil expected to see on something as ancient as this. But he refused to back off now. There was a flaw in every program, and Neil had talent on finding them.

He pressed his finger against Cube like chip he had on his temple, mostly only as a camouflage to avoid unwanted attention. The American society had gotten into the point, where people who don’t have the chip attached to their temple are considered freaks and outsiders.

Neil’s chip did not connect to the internet as all the others did. It was turned off most of the time, mere prop more than anything else. That is, until he activated it with his fingertip. The device would switch on, converting his awareness into a digital form and transmitting him into the desired software environment.

Neil found himself in another word, full on ones and zeros that formed everything in his new surroundings. An infinitely tall wall stood before him, glowing in orange light. He walked by the wall, searching for a weak spot, anything that would help him find a way in.

It was rather curious, the structure of this firewall. It was nothing like the dark, monocoloured walls the Ravens was using in their antivirus programs that they distributed. This one was radius, almost blinding, and hot at touch. It was clear to Neil that this was a homebrew work of someone who knew their way around computers. But why go through all the effort, rather than use Ravens' software?

Neil decided to not think about it too much and instead focused on the task ahead.

Neil continued to walk by the wall, hand brushing against its structure, searching for any sign of weakness. He almost walked past it, when he saw the glitch. Small part of the wall flickered and came back to its hard self-right when he walked by. Neil stopped, slight grin flashing across his face. He placed his palm on the glitching spot and took a deep breath before sending his virus to the one special line of glitching code. There were fleshes of red light against the glowing wall as his program send one attacking command after another, causing the glitch to spread more and more, drilling crash into the wall, until the base broke and the wall fell to the ground, leaving just the unprotected software for Neil to do what ever he pleased with.

He waived his hand, watching as the program opened in front of him, forming four empty digits. He uploaded his own program, that started with the separated with the separated testing. Neil watched as the combinations turned red one after another, until finally lighting up green, settling on one correct combination, that will unlock the door.

Neil felt a bit embarrassed for the owner when the code turned up to be the basic 1,2,3,4.

He looked at his watch. It was showing twenty-four past midnight, which meant it took him ten minutes to unluck the door. Neil frowned. It took him almost double the time he usually needed to get inside Ravens' user protection. He decided to write it off to the fact that this was a firewall he was not used to encountering. But he will definitely need to keep practicing.

He felt something warm on his lips. Neil automatically whipped it with his sleeve, not even bothering to check the blood running down his nose. Those nosebleeds were a common occurrence, wherever he used the chip. _A price to pay._ Neil figured a long time ago.

He typed the code in and was rewarded with a soft clicking noise of the door unlocking. He took one more breath before quietly stepping in. What welcomed him was complete darkness, disturbed only with the soft light coming in from behind him. But Neil didn’t need a light to navigate in the store. He memorized the layout during his previous visit, that took place in day hours. He closed the door and moved quickly, taking only items from his mental checklist and stuffing them into his bag as fast as he could.

Neil was almost done when he heard footsteps outside. Without thinking twice, he jumped behind the counter and set down as low as possible. Neil quickly pulled out his tablet, twitching at how much light the display made and promptly scanned the rooms wireless devices. He thanked whichever god was looking over him that the owner invested into wireless lights, and hack into their system to lock them down to prevent the -whoever it was- from turning them on. He put the tablet back into its place and waited.

The footsteps stopped at the door. Neil held his breath and prayed that they would just continue walking and leave, but all that hope disappeared when that someone started talking.

“Did you seriously forget to lock the door again Nicky?” An angry voice grumbled from outside. Neil’s hearth skipped at how familiar the voice sounded. But that couldn’t be-

“What? No. Not possible. I remember checking that before I left.” The other voice argued back, a bit further away from the door.

“And I don’t suppose you lock the light down just for kickers either.” Someone else commented, sounding surprisingly cheerfully compared to the two previous voices.

“What light-Oh.”

There was a loud bang as someone kicked the door right to the wall and Neil took it as a cue to start running.

“Andrew what the fuck!” The first voice called out, but Neil almost didn’t hear that. All he could focus on was the sound of fast footsteps chasing after him through the dark. Neil headed to the storage room behind the counter, but he didn’t have a chance to map down this room beforehand so now he was running blindly, bumping into stuff wherever he could. At some point, he managed to tear down a closet full of boxes, barricading the short path behind him. He heard curses just a couple of steps away and sounds of his pursuer fighting to cross the newly created obstacle. Neil tried to run in the other direction but tripped over something too hard to be kicked away and ended up falling face first. He must’ve been at the very end of the room because instead of breaking his nose against the floor, his fall was stopped by the opposite wall. Neil instantly pushed against it, but his left hand only sank deeper into the wall. His mind was in such a state of panic, it took him a second to realize he just pressed some weird hidden button. A new hole of a size of a door quietly opened in the wall, creating a new exit. Without a second thought, Neil ran inside.

A blue light was illuminating the walls, giving Neil a chance to run faster. He followed the source of light into a new room, much bigger than the store. It took two steps in for Neil’s mind to catch up to him and help him realize where he was. A secret room filled with the most expensive-looking computers Neil has seen in really long time. It was such a ridiculous change of scenery it made Neil stumble and slow down for just a second.

But a second was all it took for the person behind him to catch on to him. He heard something heavy being lifted from the ground and before he could turn around, a smashing pain hit Neil across the back of his head, immediately stealing all balance from him and sending him falling face first to the floor.

The last thing Neil remembered were two black sneakers coming towards him and very distant,

_“Never should have come here.”_


	2. Headache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First impressions are important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you think this would ever update after such a long pause? Me neither! And yet here we are. Life is full of suprises.

Two things welcomed Neil when he woke up. Complete darkness and sharp pain. Neil stopped himself from groaning out loud. He hated everything. Especially his head. It was pulsing so much, and with such intensity, that Neil was honestly worried it was fractured. The loud ringing in his ears wasn't making his situation any better. He tried blinking to adjust to the dark environment he was in, but his eyelids brushed over something what Neil quickly recognized as heavy fabric. He was blindfolded. That realization helped to send him back into reality.

He was sitting, probably on an office chair, judging by the soft material. His hands were tied behind his back, but his legs remained free. Or at least Neil didn't feel any ropes around his ankles.

Neil held his breath, listening for any sign that he wasn't alone in the room. It took a minute, but he finally heard muffled voices, coming from some other room, separated with a closed door.

He decided to bet on them being confident enough to leave him alone and started carefully tugging at the ropes around his wrists. By the touch, he guessed that they used the rope from the above shop to tie him up. Freeing himself from the knot won't be easy since the knot had to be tight by hands that knew what they were doing, judging by how tightened the knot was. It will take time, but it's not impossible.

Before doing anything with his hands, Neil rechecked the state of his ankles. He moved one leg, then with the other, extremely slowly and carefully not to attract the attention of a possible security camera. When he confirmed that he could move his legs far enough for them not to be tied up, he returned his attention to the rope around his wrists. Neil started with attempting to reach the knot with his fingers, but to no use. Neil silently swore when he realized that he needs to resort to his least favourite option.

On the run, his mother thought him how to free himself from handcuffs. The procedure required dislocating his own wrist, but it was the most effective thing he could think of. Neil just managed to get his hands into the right position, when the voices from the other room started to get closer. He immediately stopped what he was doing and bowed his head down to make it seem as if he was still asleep.

"-software from Ravens. Ther's nothing else to it."

"Yeah, but I didn't find any Ravens tech on him. Just that old tablet? What's that about anyway."

Neil recognized the voices. Those were the same people he heard by the door. His guts twisted from how much the one reminded him of Kevin.

"Well, no. But that's how it works with spies right? They get the best tech. I bet he has his implanted into his eye or something."

"That's _not_ how it works." Kevin frowned.

"Oh, my apologies." The voice spit back sarcastically "It's not as if I know anything about microchips or anything. What was I thinking- oh, wait! I am-"

"Nickyyy." The weirdly cheerful voice spoke up in a warning, right in front of where Neil was sitting. "Shut up! He's already awake."

Neil did his best to not jump. How did he get this close? Neil definitely did not hear him coming with the two others, nor would he have the time to get this close. Was he there all along?

Those two stopped, probably searching for signs of Neil's consciousness. "Are you sure?" The one - who Neil remembered hearing someone calling Nicky- asked.

"Yep." The voice responded, and Neil is sure he hears him lifting himself up, to stand right in front of Neil. "You two just came in at the worst moment." He continues. "Cuz I am pretty sure this clown was just about to break his own wrists."

Next thing Neil knew was his leg swinging up in reflex, in an attempt to kick the person in front of him into their weak spot. But instead of the coalition, he felt his leg being grabbed mid-air by stiff fingers. Before Neil could stop and realize what was happening, the person in front of him adjusted their grip to quickly swing Neil's leg up. That caused the chair Neil was sitting at to move and lose its balance. He let go just at the right moment to send Neil falling backwards to the ground, hitting his head one more time. The worst pain went through his body. "Screw you!" Neil cursed into space, turning the pain into rage.

"Andrew what the fuck!" Nicky called from somewhere in the space in front of them. Neil thought he heard him approaching, but it was hard to tell through all the ringing in his ears. "-told us to not kill him until he gets here."

"Still alive", Andrew commented from- again -just inches away from Neil's face.

"Yeah but hitting his head over and over sure won't help that." Nicky frowned – or at least Neil imagined he did, judging by the change in his tone.

Neil flinched when he suddenly felt harsh fingers on his face, dragging his blindfold up and leaving it on his forehead. He gritted his teeth as the pain of light stabbing into his eyes caused his stomach twist, threatening to throw out all of the zero contains.

Even when the pain weekend and the world stopped spinning, Neil had to blink a couple times to adjust his eyes to the sudden sharp light that was illuminating the room. He saw a figure leaning over him, but his vision was still too hazy to see anything else than his silhouette. Though he couldn't quite make out who he was looking at, he resorted to frowning at them.

"What are you doing are you crazy?!" Neil heard Kevin call, voice dripping in frustration. "Are you that desperate so have Ravens see your face?!" Neil saw a new hand coming towards his face, presumably to drag the fabric down across his eyes again but Andrew pushed it away.

"Relax. He's not from Ravens." Andrew replied.

Kevin was not convinced. "Yeah? How can you be so sure?"

Andrew showed him something small, what he was holding between two fingers. "Cuz he's got a fake chip." He explained, without looking back to face Kevin. Neil's vision improved enough for him to finally see the wide smile spreading across Andrews's face, never really reaching his eyes. "Looks like we got ourselves a clever little rabbit, am I wrong?" Andrew tapped at Neil's forehead mockingly. Neil turned his head away, watching his fake Cube stocked between the two thin fingers.

"Don't touch that." He hissed, quickly realizing that he was a bit late for that.

Meanwhile, Nicky made his way next to them, reaching for the Cube. "Oh, neat! Show me." He grabbed the chip Andrew and held it against the light. Neil wanted to protest, but a firm hand placed across his mouth prevented him from that. Neil looked back to see Andrew – to whom the hand belonged- watching him with mocking grin.

"Your right!" Nicky agreed almost immediately after getting a better look at the fake device. "Looks like Cube but ain't one." He turned back to Neil. "What's that for?"

Neil didn't even attempt to respond, Andrews hand still placed across his mouth. Nicky threw Andrew a meaningful look, and Andrew released his grip.

"What's that for?" Nicky repeated, pointing at the chip for bigger emphasis.

"None of your business." Neil spit back. He realized by the pieces of conversation that those guys were probably not with the RAVENS, which by order of elimination made them another group of rebels. He and his mother avoided them as well. It was too often of an occurrence that those groups had at least one person snitching all their info right back to the devil.

"Disagree." Andrew got up, holding his hand in front of him for Nicky to give him the chip. "Don't feel like telling us? Fine!" He turned back to Neil, showing him the chip in his hand. "There are other ways to find out."

Neil bit his lip. Andrew was talking about microchip decomposition. That would give them some sort of info about its functions but would almost certainly ruin the device in the process. And it would be practically impossible to create a new one, not mentioning getting the unwanted attention for not owning a cube.

Andrew stared him down with a lazy smile, waiting for a reaction. Neil returned the stare for a while, going through his options before finally giving in.

"Uh, fine!" He cringed. "It's camouflage. I wear it to not attract attention."

Andrews smile stayed the same but has risen his eyebrows in a question. "Just that?"

"Just that", Neil said. He saw a hint of something in Andrews eyes that made it clear he was not buying that but before he could ask more, the doors opened, and another three figures entered the room.

Neil twisted to see a large figure of a man in his forties that stormed into the room. He was followed by two girls, one of which eyed him with vague curiosity, while the other one was checking her long nails, clearly bored.

The man walked towards him, standing right behind Andrew, who meanwhile had hidden the chip into his pocket. Andrew turned to welcome the man with arms outstretched. "Coach! Glad you could make it."

The man – Coach – shot him a cold look. Neil thought he saw a nerve twitch, but it could be just his vision not being quite settled yet. It seemed as if Coach was going to say something back, but instead, he turned to look down at Neil.

"Why is he on the floor?" He said finally.

"He's one clumsy fella", Andrew responded with a shrug.

Coach sighed, quickly giving up on getting a better explanation and leaning down to grab the chair Neil was tied to and put it back up without much visible effort. He stayed down, to keep their eyes on the same level. His right arm was still holding to the chair. Neil put all his energy into keeping him from flinging away.

"Who are you." Coach started, staring Neil down.

Neil stayed silent for a moment, weighing his options. After not coming up with anything helpful, he decided to offer them his latest fake name. "Neil Josten."

The men's face was an unreadable wall when he called out, "Renee, run that in the system."

_Fuck._ Neil thought immediately cursing at himself for not realizing his mistake by giving them the name so quick. "You won't find anything." He said truthfully.

"Trust me." The girl – Renee – responded with a smile that was a polar opposite to the grimace Andrews's lips were shaped into. "I am really good."

"Good for you." Neil said, " But you won't find me in the system anyway." He used the opportunity to lean away from the arm stretched behind his shoulder and looked at the girl.

"Why?" Andrew asked with faked confusion before Renee could react. "Oh, don't tell me you were _lying_ to us?" He said with an overly exaggerated gasp.

He was. But that wasn't the point. "No," Neil shook his head, itching from the pain the movement caused, "Its because I deleted it."

"What do you mean, deleted it?" Coach asked, bringing the attention back to himself.

Neil bit his lip. He didn't like how quickly he had to reveal some of his information. "I found out how to get into the "user database" and deleted my file." He said finally.

The user database was a secured property, supposedly owned by the government, but since the government was nothing but an overestimated puppet, the database was as good as any Ravens property.

"Bullshit", Kevin said finally after watching the whole scene from the nearest corner. "No one can get in there without permission."

A sparkle of hope ignited in his chest. Kevin didn't recognize him. "You can." Neil said a with a slight shrug, "if you are good."

He saw Andrew rise his eyebrows. "And that you are?"

A sharp white light filled the room for half a second, as Renee took a picture of Neil, to proceed with her more in-depth search of the database, despite his warning. The light brought back the ringing in his ears and twisted his stomach, but he refused to let it show. Neil paid Renee no mind as she moved to sit behind her computer, and instead, calmly answered. "I got here, didn't I?"

"There is a bit of difference between old lock protection and top security database." Andrew pointed.

"And still, I hacked into both."

He saw Kevin shaking his head. "You were supposed to update the firewall."

"I was, wasn't I?" Andrew agreed happily but didn't elaborate, ignoring the glare Kevin was sending him.

Neil, however happy he wasn't recognized, still didn't understand what Kevin was doing here.

Kevin was Ravens' valued asset. His and Riko’s faces appeared with almost every new product. Neil doubted that this duo, no matter how talented, could really stand behind all the production, as Ravens were trying to claim. But it was an excellent marketing tool non the less.

Of course, he heard about the accident that happened during their last holiday, which meant Kevin would not be a part of the production for a while. The whole country mourned their poster boy, but Neil figured he would start reappearing on the billboards as soon as he got back in shape.

He glanced over Kevin, who was now entirely concentrated on watching Renee work. He looked fine, aside from the visible anxiousness caused by Neil's presence.

Coach waited for Renee to confirm Neil's claim of his data absence in the database, before turning back to Neil.

"Right, so let's say I believe your name is Neil." He started. "Why did you come here?"

"I came to steal food." He admitted, cringing at how much truth he was putting out. "Saw the old lock and figured it would be easy to get into."

"We can confirm that much I guess", Nicky said from behind. He brought Neil backpack to show him the stolen goods. Neil had to hold to the chair to not jump after the bag that contained all his belongings. "Don't." He hissed before he could stop himself. "Touch that."

"Bit too late for that." He heard Andrew laugh. "Maybe if you wish to be overly possessive of your stuff then don't get knocked out like that next time. You might be awake enough to do something about it."

Coach, ignoring both of them, quickly searched through the backpack, checking for its contents. "You guys found any trackers on him?"

Nicky shook his head. "Nope, he's clear."

He nodded, putting the backpack away without any more in-depth search, which eased the tension in Neils's shoulders a bit. Coach looked back at Neil. "Alright. So, Neil, you came here to steal food and accidentally found some of our computers." He paused as if collecting his thoughts. "What do you propose we do now?" 

"Let me go," Neil responded. He wasn't naive enough to think he could get a positive answer, but stupid questions deserve stupid-.

"To go where?"

"Not to Ravens if that's what you're worried about", Neil said.

"No, not really." Coach shook his head. "But where would you go from here? Let's say we let you have the food you managed to steel, what would be the plan next?" The look in his eyes told Neil the man didn't really need to hear the answer. Not that Neil would know how to respond anyway. So he just shrugged.

"Look." He said, not impressed by the lack of response. "I don't really believe in coincidence. I think that everything that happens happens for a reason." Andrew smirked at that, but Coach ignored him. "So, I believe that there was a reason why you came to this particular shop, at that particular time for this particular thing to happen."

Neil kept quiet, not amazed by the flow of the man's logic. Coach took it as a cue to continue. "To be honest, we could use another member. We just… lost someone who was handling the more offensive part of our organization." Neil almost didn't notice the change in features of the one girl standing in the back and was mostly minding her own business, but for a moment, Neil thought he saw signs of grief. But she turned away before he could read more into it. "And you look like you could use a roof over your head and some warm meal on your plate."

"Are you for real?" The girl in the back finally spoke up. "I am sorry, but did you seriously just offered some random thief to join _us_?!"

"He sure did", Andrew confirmed, falling into an office chair, similar to the one Neil was still tied to.

Neil thought he heard Nicky say something about him not minding having such a cutie aboard, but Nicky was facing the other way. He hoped he heard wrong.

"How about consulting us first?" The blond girl continued arguing. "What happened to team meetings?"

"You want a team meeting?" Coach said. "Fine. Let's have a meeting. Everyone, out. Now."

If the girl was surprised that her complaint was heard, she didn't let it show. "Fine." She said, flipping her hair on her way out.

Most of them followed without much protest, besides Andrew. He stayed sitting in his chair until everyone beside Coach was out, before finally standing up. He stopped at the door to turn back at Neil. "Be careful not to hurt yourself while we're gone. Would be a shame to cripple yourself too soon." He waved goodbye in an exaggerated motion, putting emphasis on the movement of his wrists.

Neil frowned at him, but Andrew was already gone, pushed to move by Coach who closed the door behind them.

Finally alone, he tugged his fists again to try to pray them free in the hope the rope loosen with him falling down and whatnot, but no such luck. And he didn't feel like dislocating his wrists either. Not because Andrew warned him about it, but because he didn't see how he would get past that many people without using hands. He gave up shortly after, focusing on the conversation in the next room instead. Neil thought he heard some muffled voices, but they were too quiet to understand. He cursed quietly, relaxing into his chair in defeat.

Without him realizing it, his mind took a turn on its own and began considering the uncertified offer. It shouldn't be a hard decision. He was sure that if his mother would still be alive, she would beat him senseless for even considering anything else but to decline. Staying at one place for too long was a risk enough on itself, let alone with a group of rebels that undoubtedly was already under the Ravens radar.

He looked around, finally getting a chance to properly examine his surroundings.

It was a large room with no windows. It looked like a renewed cellar that someone connected with a second cellar and turned into a technology hub. Beside many brandless computers, Neil saw cables, instruments and something he recognized as robot parts lying around with no particular order. There were a few black and orange sitting bags pushed into a corner to make more space in the centre. It looked like a less strict version of a rebel's base. 

He finally noticed a big black symbol that someone had sprayed on the left wall. A large fox head was staring back at him with a piercing gaze. That answered the question about the group's identity.

Foxes were among the first who started openly boycotting Ravens technology, claiming that it should undergo much stricter regulations. They were a pretty big deal a few years ago, even managing to spark some protests here and there. But then their activities started occurring with smaller and smaller frequencies. Nobody was sure what happened, but from the rumours, Neil had overheard, they practically have broken up due to infighting.

Neil looked away from the fox's gaze to watch the door, his thoughts storming inside hurting head. Why was Kevin staying with those people? He must be hiding from Ravens, that was the only explanation Neil could think of, considering the lack of explanation of Kevin's disappearance from the Ravens' side. But did Kevin really believe that Foxes could stand their ground long enough to protect him from Ravens' claws?

Neil shook his head. He didn't know what to think of Kevin. Naivety and stupidity offered themselves as examples, but Neil doubted that was all there was to it. Kevin must've had a reason to believe he could stay here under their protection. And if that was true, would they do the same for Neil?

It didn't sound plausible, but what else was there? The winter was coming faster than Neil anticipated. With his current equipment, he'd be dead before New Year, Ravens or not. And then there were the computers. Neil knew better than to sit behind a keyboard, much too aware of how easy it would be to slip up and bring attention to himself if he was not careful enough. But what else was he supposed to do? Programming was the only thing that made him feel real, the world of ones and zeros so much more pleasant and welcoming than what awaited him in reality. The aching for this experience to return was getting stronger and stronger whenever he hacked or programmed anything. And being this close to getting this thrill back into his life, was making the need borderline impossible to ignore.

The door opened, and the foxes walked back into the room.

"So," Coach clapped his hands together. "We decided to keep you."

Neil looked around at the remaining foxes waiting for someone to object. He locked his eyes with Kevin's gaze for a moment, almost certain - even though he wasn't recognized- that Kevin won't want any new liability which would compromise his hideout. But Kevin was quiet, watching him with almost an interest.

"What if I say no?" Neil said, finally.

"You won't," Kevin responded instead of Coach. "Because you want to stay." Neil was ready to argue, but Kevin refused to let him talk. "We checked the camera footage outside the shop. It took you not even ten minutes to get through Andrews firewall. True, it was way overdue for a new update." He said, eyes piercing Andrews who just ignored him in favour of playing with a small lightener, turning the flame on and off. "But I've seen your drive out there. And I know a hacker when I see one. So, shut up and take the opportunity that will get you out from the street to the computer." 

Neil smirked. "Maybe. But I don't think I am suicidal enough to stay where Kevin Day is. Unpopular opinion, I know, but I am kinda trying to keep my distance from Ravens." He was mostly convincing himself, but it seemed to work on Kevin. His face went pale on the mention of the company's name. It looked as if he didn't know what to say to that, so Coach stepped in instead. 

"If that's what you are after," Coach said, "you won't find a better place than here."

Neil didn't know what it was, whether the certainty in the man's voice or the way the tension in Kevin's shoulders disappeared at that short reassurance that made Neil belief in the truthfulness of his words. He bit his lip, a memory of his mother’s burning body fleshed in his mind. She would probably kill him first before letting him go through with this. But she was gone and he was left alone. He didn’t know what to do without her and there weren’t many options to choose from anyway.

Neil had to look away from the dark eyes before he could respond. 

"Fine." He said. "I will stay." It was okay, he tried to convince himself. He could stay for a while, survive winter under their roof and run when things get too hard to handle. It would be fine. He repeated to himself, fighting the tightness in his chest.

He will be fine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wouldn't count on regular updates if I were you, but lets hope next chapter wont take as long as the second one:D

**Author's Note:**

> hi so I am writing this as a surprise for my gf who requested it some time ago. she hasnt red it yet and doesnt know i am posting this and i kinda want to see how long it will take till she figures this out. i guess i am kinda afraid of her feedback because i dont know if id continue writing this if she doesnt like it lol.  
> Edit: She liked it:D  
> I edited the first chapter a bit.


End file.
